The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-13
,nun ARE YOU, ANYWAY
,navalent Ignorance in America of
Ancestral Ties.
From the Ne,o York Herald.

-,.i+ion he has natural and pardonable
ff@-iro IN know something Of his ancestry
The master of the Hall of Records closed
o,a Of his inlaid wood cabinets filed with
memoranda.
.,put family pride is not so common a
..,+ive as desire for money. By far the
n~ooter number of my clients hope to prove
tbs;r titles TO legacies, to recover property,
-, move themselves heirs to advertised
U..ofcs Here are two letters Just received
tror1 the West wanting information con-
narnjng estates i'll chaucery. You may read
them. .s-.,, Y,
"a register of 10000 cases in chancery.
PAYMENT out Payment out Dye seel
That means they have been recovered"
1Now what will YOU do for these peopler'
~ they are Dutch descent, I have the old
nu+ch books of every city and town, record
inc The names of the principal citizens as
Far back as 1900. If they are English re-
fsr r. nv English books, which contain for
many centuries the names of the gentry.
DON'T KNOW THEIR GRANDMoTHERs.
"Put it is surprising how few people know,
for example, their grandmothers' maiden
names. Some people know less. A good
deol of this confusion arises from our silly
habit of naming children. A Dutch girl
viii have four names-they will represent
foTr generations. She opens her mothers
Bible Her mother has four names. There
is her ancestry for several generations A
large part of my custom comes from people
yh0 literally do not know who they are"
"How did you drift into this puzzling bust
ness ~
81 went first to recover some property for
nv wife was so successful that | was en-
pl0ysd by the College of Heraldry, started
b. e man named Wells, now dead and his
College extinct. / went to Holland in 1866
anJ STAYED over eighteen years, returning
only now and then, and staying the first
time eight years
II began then to collect data on my own
account wherever found them. Look."
Drawers, cabinets, book racks were full
of small folioS, enclosed in neat covers and
alphabetically arranged.
~ have here records of 230, 900 families.
When ! have new client in few minutes
| can tell him if | have any facts that will
help him, and often we are put Immediately
in the right way.
TWO NEW YORK ACRES FOR a DOLLAR AND
A HALF.
Another branch of my business is col
lecting old deeds and legal documents. In
many instances these bring to people a
knowledge of rights of which they were
ignorant. The last time / was in England
found deed belonging to one of the old
Dutch families here emitting them to two
acres and half in the heart OF down town
You will vet hear of the lawsuit based on
it. When the English drove out the Dutch
in this city this deed was seized and carried
TO England, where it remained until re-
covered it,
While he spoke he unrolled an old legal
document beginning 81 William Fourth. by
grace of God" &c. 1t was surrounded BY
az Illuminated floral border and from it de
pended the royal seals. The document
acknowledged the debt of 996,O00 to the
Lord Chancellor of the city Of Dublin IN
100.
when did you get itF
II bought it for dollar and half out in
Ohio. 1t was left for safe keeping by the
descendants of this man the name will notbe
given here to encourage doubtful hopes)
The owners of it went further West and
have never been heard of since If any per-
sons OF this name could bring the proofs of
their ancestry that money could be re-
covered
But it is amusing how little care people
take to preserve their lineage. ! often find
that after lapse of twenty-five years in
this country brothers and sisters know moth
ing Of one another. Now and then the
search after property will bring them to-
gether IN the most curious way.
Another great trouble arises from people
changing their names by adding or emitting
letters after they have come to this country
AElpropos, will tell you strange story Of
circumstance.
MISLAID LETTER.
After had gone to Holland l received a
letter from q MnrIIlunI 70
IQok up some property belonging to them in
Holland
Il found no record of their name but of
one somewhat similar | wrote back to
know II they had any proofs identifying
Their name with that of the Holland family
Iney answered no, but sent me the facts on
which they based their claim. Their father
aVe IN the last century had come to this
country, leaving in Holland an only brother
0he saturday afternoon, in the year 1870
tne old gentleman walked into town, and
I4ere he found letter from his brother in
holland begging him to come back home
:! am not married nor ever will be. am a
Flch man with plenty to support you and
your children, and they shall be my heirs,
ne wrote. With this letter he walked back
i nome. lie read it TO his family. But it was
taIe The Dutch Sunday begins at shutdown
90 ne put aside the letter, took down his
ola Blbie and began the holy day.
mat night he was taken i'll from over
eXertlon, and on Monday he died. After the
funeral the children bethought them of the
iHetIer, but 1t could not be found. There was
IpalVniul ransacking, but without avail.
aeope We're more helpless then; travel was
more serious undertaking. The letter
never t being found the matter was dropped
several years ago I was on a vessel lying
a. me dock in Amsterdam. There was a
young Canadian on it whom | knew. Pay
h liY nm visit l picked up Quebec paper
oolohglng TO him. In that paper | read an
;1c Nv OF a sermon preached by minister
- quebec, in which he alluded to the duty
$goWe owed to their descendants in preserv-
~ uhelr ancestral names, and told, apropos,
one circumstances | have related which con-
cerned his wife
- ~ course | recognized them and wrote
" nm stating my connection with the
matter and asking if his wife could furnish
10y additional information. [ had an
U ,, saying she could not. So there we
s"eIeasaln. Now, the minister had young
~ ~ employed in an office. Going one day
~ ms aIiairs he loitered, as boys will do, at
I oocond hand book store, kept by an old
49, iuere he saw queer and wooden
t gSoUaeu book with clasps He opened it, and
o,'-. on the fly leaf saw the name of his
THnaiather. 1t was an old Dutch Bible
i, .G BOY ran home and told his father, who
ii 30. to buy it. His wife had some
-.cis o. her father, and it was easy to see
Let Ihe signatures were Identical This
vas truly strange, but wait
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.